>> (roll call)

a> item 4, moved to approve the minutes. all those in favor? aye. >> two is a go we lost john baker, i highly regarded 28-year employee. in 1984 he started as a track worker, became finally track superintendent. he will be greatly missed and i would like to ask the board's consent to adjourn in his memory. >> one more communication, no close session. item 6. >> new or unfinished business. being none, thank you. >> item 7, directors report.

>> good afternoon mr. chairman members of the board, , public, staff. at the last meeting i provided a reminder that upcoming was the 49th annual cable car bellringing competition. i asked that the competition be in mr. baker's honor, a tremendous loss. we had a great event. on september 6. we had strong sponsorship from girardelli chocolate, uncle vitto's pizza, the chancellor hotel, again the comedian debbie durst, acted as the mc.

it was big time to get debbie durst.>> >> >> can you tell a few jokes for us? >> i was commenting to my staff that mta and -- figure prominently. i will leave it at that. we did have for amateur bellringers, competing for various charities, went before the professional competition. the winner was scottie -- from cbs local media. the proceeds for the amateurs go to a charity of their choosing. and then we moved onto the professional round. we had seven competitors for the title of world champion

bellringer, jorge -- cindy -- all vying to top the reigning world champion. the first time in 49 years in the competition that after the first round we had a tie, between leonard oates and an upstart, with a cable car division only 10 years after a ring off, the two of them came back to compete mr. whitaker took the title and the bragging rights to be the world champion bellringer for the next year we are honored to have him here today with his wife. maybe he can give us a display of his award-winning talent. >> mr. whitaker?

[applause] >> [ off mic ] [ laughter ] [ off mic ] >> it is an honor and privilege -- [ off mic ]. thank you all. my beautiful wife, she was -- [ off mic ]

[bell ringing] [bell ringing] [applause] [applause] >> congratulations on behalf

of the board of directors. it was great. did not seem nervous to me. >> you can see why he won the award. you can see why with his personality he and his cable car colleagues make such great ambassadors. a few quick things. missing street repaving project, soon to be completed. this is a project i had the pleasure of starting in my previous job before coming to the mta. in the process, a lot of work got done from 16th st. down to cesar chavez. in the interim, we have upgraded our mission street buses on -- working with ppw construction team, the work is coming to a close. mission paving will be finished

this week. final touchup and restriping will be done next weekend muni will move its buses back to mission st., on saturday, september 29. other work that will go back. temporary configurations will revert back to pre-existing conditions by the end of october and in addition to getting the street date all the way from cesar chavez and 16th, which will give muni riders a smoother ride we added bus bowls at 24th to help the boarding process in an area that could be congested. a good project for the city, the impact for us and big benefit for us and looking forward to getting back to mission street at the end of

the month. we do have upcoming in a couple of weeks our next and last really big special event we can of the year. weekend of october 6-7, an incredible list of events all coincide on that week. the next round of the americas cup world series, coincides with fleet week in the same area, also the harley -- bluegrass festival, castro st. parade, the cruise ship unloading and loading on that saturday. we have the grand opening of the -- in union square. we have football game, 49ers against the bills. a white likely be giants will be in town with a playoff. an incredible amount.

>> [ off mic ] >> absolutely. there's a map that shows some of the special event and you can see there is a significant concentration in the northeast quadrant of the city. we will be once again testing some of the people-planned concerts for the america's plan, also supporting the fleet events. also converting the embarcadero, operating 47 limited and providing other enhanced services to support these events. it will be a strong drain on our resources but as we did during the last weekend we will manage to make sure the vents are successful

and everybody relying on muni can still get around town even if not going to the event. agencywide, we have an operations plan to serve these events. we had feedback from the board within the last year following certain special events and feedback that we got in terms of not doing as well as we could have, or coordinating as well as we could, we pulled together under ms. -- coordinating activity plugging in to the city's overall planning activity to make us all more successful. the last thing i wanted to announce, to really let you know that we are putting together a group of folks to look at accessible, on street parking. everyone knows that it has come up here before, that the current approach that we use here in the city throughout california

and really throughout the country to manage on street parking for people who need access, really is not working well. our existing policies do not create access for people with disabilities, and effectively reduces parking availability which impacts everybody in terms of transportation particularly those really need access to those preferred spaces. we are very committed to working with stakeholders to develop recommendations. what we will do is convene a group of stakeholders next month to analyze and understand the issue and develop recommendations bringing back those to you in the spring. when we launched that, i may bring you more information in

october when we put it together. it is a challenge that has bedeviled us here in san francisco and across the country for a long time and it is frustrating to see people who see the abuse and key people who need access to the spaces from getting it. i don't know what the solutions will be; if we will be able to find solutions; it's a complicated and sensitive issue. we look forward to having recommendations to bring back to you next spring. that is what i have in my report. >> first of all, on the busy, hopefully really busy weekend in october during the us open golf tournament, you took action in consultation with the taxicab companies to allow this and to operate during the golf tournament. are you planning

to take similar action? >> i have not discussed this with the taxi services. the intra-agency planning for this includes the taxi staff. making sure taxies have access to the event. we have concern about the ticketing of taxies. >> i think that's great. we have to recognize that on days like this, taxis are a key part of our public transportation system and they should be encouraged to pick up and drop off at these events but not punished to do so. in addition if we make taxi service more available to the people at these events there will be greater demand and should work with the taxicab companies. i imagine there will be plenty of demand to go around and plenty of drivers who would

like to work the shifts. also, i realize we will get recommendations. one thing i want to raise rate that we talked about, the community can really police itself. this is a situation where this is an abuse that offends a lot of people in the community and it should. in the past we encourage folks when they see whether things abuse to call 311, and report it. understanding that the person in question may have a legitimate disability that they cannot see. it is better to have our and forced the authorities to have a lead rather than pursuing this in the ether. at least in my conversations with the community and other folks about this, people are willing to help and they want to know how. i hope that you will consider that as you look at ways to end this sort of fraud.

>> also on the issue of accessible parking, as we formulate steps to resolution, i would going to be looking at this from our point of view? or reaching out to other cities in california? any resolution we to be sort of statewide legislation. >> it's a good point. we are not presupposing that the solution would be state legislation, but it is quite likely. to think that we are doing: we are gathering information, we actually have done so for a few years, and compiling information about other cities around the country as well as across the state and how they are dealing with this. the second thing we will do is we are going to invite the dmv to participate and we will establish a conversation with parking and transportation around the state that we will

engage in this. they will not sit on the panel but we will meet by phone monthly to keep them up-to-date on what we are doing. to the extent that we do end up with any kind of recommended installation we want it to be something that works for other cities. other cities like la are struggling with us right along. good point. >> i am excited about this project for a number of reasons. it is a sensitive topic and i am glad that we are pulling in the dmv. encourages us to consider pulling some of the organizations in the area that can look at the legalities involved in terms of regulating this sort of thing and to make sure we have an adequate sensitivity when we address this issue. is it

sensitive when we talk to people in the community. plan for early october. it would be good to have accessible services. it is important that the taxis servicing people with disabilities and drop of people successfully. we need to make sure that that happens. >> advisory council report. i don't see chairman here. >> comments on directors reports. only one nine [indiscernible]. >> good afternoon sir. >> good afternoon chairman and directors. i want you to know that when we you allow the cab companies to add more cabs on special

events, where is the money going? that should be useful. that's all. >> thank you. >> next item. >> citizen advisory committee. >> this is just on the directors report at this point. >> good afternoon. >> herbert weiner, sometimes has parking problems when he uses his car in the city, rarely. one thing that i noticed that contribute to the problem of parking is the parking spaces have been depleted over the years. dpt snatches up parking spaces. you have restored some of them.

>> sorry this is for items discussed by mr. ruskin as part of his directors report. >> bethlehem addressing, the problem of parking. it also brings less revenue to the city. >> there will be no report, item 9, public comment an opportunity for members of the public to address the board within the jurisdiction of the board of directors but not of today's calendar. we will start with benjamin [indiscernible] >> good afternoon sir. >> my name is benjamin [indiscernible] i would like to say, as a cyclist in san

francisco i am excited to see the handout with new bike lanes. as a taxi driver that will impact my commute to work. it can be a a harrowing ride for me. c not on the agenda today but was on the agenda at the last meeting were 200 taxi medallions issued directly to companies. i would like to mention that there have been really shockwaves that have gone out throughout the industry by this decision. when the current program for sales was initiated, there was a promise made to the cab drivers, one medallion, for every new medallion issues we will be offered to the list on

a seniority basis, and one for purchase. this has broken the promise. when i first came to san francisco i was 22 years old. i left my hometown on the east coast looking for a more progressive city, more in line with my own politics. i cannot help but view this decision is essentially corporate welfare, and the handout to the companies which had really done nothing but impede [indiscernible] -- anti-progressive agenda, and middle road politics, takes thousands of dollars of potential revenue away from working families in san francisco. thank you. >> mark kruger followed by herbert --

>> mark gruber [sounds like] in case you have not seen it you should read this article in th san francisco guardian. direct predecessors began in england in 1635. (reading article from the san francisco guardian)

these companies are thumbing their noses at hundreds of years of regulation. are you going to sit on your hands and let them get away with it? united taxicab workers has appeal the decision to release the medallions. the way you make your decisions is as important as what you decide. due process and fair process are essential. it has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. the report was a joke, a conclusion on 12-year-old information suspect even at that time. uses as a comparison the city of

washington, d.c. you approved full-time permits without giving a thought to part-time permits that can serve the public every bit as well. thank you. >> herbert weiner [sounds like]. >> i am ssmta, i have been waiting for my bus for 100 years. you had a logo. my own idea of a logo is a ruptured duck, over it written the inscription hell's transit. 67% delivery, 4 points off the 63% in the days of the [indiscernible] -- this is very bad.

throughout the years people could not -- and before any implementation of the transit effectiveness, you have to focus on keeping your present schedule. that is what you should be focused on. transit effectiveness project should be doing that. even with the service cuts some lines have been cut, those buses don't show up. it's terrible. i have a suggestion. should spin off the taxi division. you should spin off the department up public parking and traffic, and leave muni intact as one agency. you have a lot of work to do. you should be doing that. is that interesting that 100 years ago -- ran just fine? they had all of these bus stops, all of these lines. why can't you do today?

you have the technology and the personal to do it. it is time to really start doing this. is a failed, defective agency happening on your watch. >> [indiscernible] >> good afternoon, my name is [indiscernible], l living in san francisco for 29 years, driving for 24 years. we don't need more regular cabs. in[indiscernible] directors, this is unfair.

when we put our name on the medallion list, we saw the concert with the city of seven san francisco to earn the medallion not to buy one. you ignore us. then you started the medallion partner program and ignored is again. we will never sign up for it. now you're releasing the medallions directly to the cab companies? don't do this. who is serving the public? [indiscernible] people call three companies, and take the first that arrives. we lose time and money.

who is ready for people to [indiscernible] it is the cab driver. why are you avoiding those [indiscernible] can i have a few seconds? why are you giving those medallions to the companies and ignoring the cabdrivers who are doing the work? >> next speaker. [indiscernible] >> good afternoon david -- this is muni's 100th anniversary. i wonder what is upcoming for the next of the year. i spoke earlier this